Assistance for Applejack
by Josh Spicer
Summary: Rated G/Kplus Applejack's been working non-stop for weeks now. Worried, Granny and Macintosh hire a helping hoof. But when this helping hoof tries to get in between Applejack and her work, is this new face begging for trouble? Oneshot


**A/N – Let's just continue as is and not have a note, yes?**

**EDIT: Actually, I do have **_**one**_** note. In this one, Applejack gets her companion of sorts. Much like Bright Shadow, when you read this guy's dialogue, think of Jason Marsden (Max Goof from Goofy Movie, Adult Kovu from Lion King 2, Chase Young from Xiaolin Showdown).**

**Title – Assistance for Applejack**

**Rated – G/K+ for Mature Themes and Mild Violence**

**Summary – Applejack's been working non-stop for weeks now. Worried, Granny and Macintosh hire a helping hoof. But when this helping hoof tries to get in between Applejack and her work, is this new face begging for trouble?**

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Much like any other day in Ponyville, all the ponies were doing their normal thing. Twilight was working at the library with Spike, Rarity was busy with some dresses from other pegasi in town, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were training for a new trick to impress the Wonderbolts. Pinkie Pie was at the candy shop. She had worked all morning to come up with some party. For what is a mystery to even the owners.

Then there was Applejack. For weeks now, she's been stuck at the apple farm, bucking down trees like no tomorrow. With every new week that's gone by, apples have grown back in the places she already bucked. It was starting to tick her off something fierce.

She had just started another day of apple bucking when her little sister, Applebloom, called her over. Applejack made her way over towards the barn. When she arrived, she noticed that Applebloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith were all waiting.

"What's wrong? Is somepony hurt?" Applejack asked.

She was worried about the sudden call. Granny Smith laughed it off. Applebloom began to jump and down with excitement.

"Oh no, everypony's safe deary," Granny said.

"Oh, good. Theeen what's the problem?" Applejack asked.

"Well, we've noticed that you've been working hard, but…how do I put this…the results haven't been coming in," Macintosh said.

Her big brother's negativity caused Applejack to squint her eyes a bit.

"Well maybe if you were out there helping me…" Applejack said.

Macintosh held up one of his hooves, which had medical tape wrapped around the entire leg.

"Oh yeah…"Applejack said, blushing a bit and looking away.

"So, in the interest of fairness—" Macintosh began to say.

Applebloom jumped in front of Macintosh, finishing the sentence.

"—we hired a helping hoof!" she shouted.

Applejack looked at her family a bit. She didn't move at all. She just looked. After a few seconds more had passed, she began to laugh wholeheartedly, roaring out her enjoyment of the situation. A few _more_ seconds passed before Applejack stopped. She wiped a tear from her eye, then looked back at her family. They were all staring at her, looking as serious as they could. Applejack stared back.

"You can't be serious," Applejack said.

"Applejack, meet the farm's newest assistant…Anasstice," Macintosh said.

A yellow colt with an orange mane trotted in front of the Apple family. His hair was combed down but hung just below the sides of his face. On his flank, the cutie mark he had were two hands folded together, angled diagonally in a straight line.

When this colt, Anasstice, got a good glance at Applejack, his eyes widened a bit. He quickly shook his head and grew a smile.

"Well, hello there Applejack," he said.

Applejack stared at this colt a bit before trotting up to him.

"Excuse us for a minute," she said.

She had a fake smile on. She then trotted around Anasstice before reaching her family.

"I think I've made it clear that I don't need help," she whispered.

"Every week you buck apples, they grow back the following week. We've gotten too many trees for you to _not_ need help. So, whether you like it or not, you're getting his help," Macintosh said.

This caused Applejack to sigh. She then trotted back towards Anasstice. He had just stood there and watched the proceedings go on by.

"So…you're gonna help me?" she asked.

She was hesitant to ask, completely opposite from Anasstice's reply.

"I believe that I am," he said.

Applejack got up close in Anasstice's face.

"Then just stay out of my way," she said.

She remained there a bit before Anasstice released a small laugh. Applejack responded to this by trotting away to work. Anasstice watched her the entire way as she got her basket, put it on, and went right to a tree.

"Woooow," he said, totally infatuated.

Macintosh, Applebloom, and Granny took notice of this. They all looked at each other before nodding.

(What follows this took place during a background music thing. It is obviously extended and took place about three, maybe two minutes.)

While Applejack bucked away at some apples, Anasstice was doing the same, only he watched her while doing it. She eventually took notice of him on the third tree. When he found her staring back at him, he looked away and acted like nothing happened. She rolled her eyes and continued. He looked back at her but only fell victim to a bunch of apples falling on his head when he didn't set down the baskets. Applejack noticed this and laughed before trotting away.

After a transition, we see Anasstice standing in a tree above Applejack. He's trying to get one last apple that won't get down. She's waiting patiently for him to grab it. He looks down and notices her watching him. This causes him to gain some confidence. He reaches up and gets the apple, but the branch he was on broke. He fell down to the ground, landing on top of Applejack. When they noticed this, Anasstice laughed nervously. Applejack punched him off.

It had reached high noon and they had taken a break to eat lunch. Anasstice opted to sit near Applejack. When she noticed this, she moved farther away. Macintosh took the seat on the end, so she couldn't scoot down any more. Applejack looked over at her brother with a scowl. He just smiled as he ate his sandwich. Applejack glanced towards Anasstice. He was also smiling and eating his sandwich. Applejack looked forward and set her chin on the table. After setting it down, she took a bite out of her sandwich.

And for the last bit, it was nearing sunset. Anasstice had tried one last trick to get Applejack's attention. He bucked some trees, and after the apples fell down, he used his back leg to kick one apple towards Applejack. When it hit the back of her head, he resumed bucking like nothing happening. She looked away, so he did it again. This time, she noticed him and did the same thing. The apple hit the back of_ his _head. He decided to do it again, but was stopped by Applejack, who caught the apple in her mouth. He looked at her and smiled. She then punched him out…again.

(And with that, the montage ended.)

Back with Anasstice, he trotted through the apple forest. It was now evening, and Anasstice, annoyed, was talking to himself. We could see Applejack trotting back to the farm in the background.

"I can't believe this. I've tried every trick that I can think of. Why won't she notice me? Or better, actually _like _me," he said.

"Yoohoo!" he heard a girl's voice call.

Anasstice glanced over to some bushes. Anasstice trotted over and snuck his head through them. When through, he saw Rarity, who was carrying a basket at her side.

"Was that you?" he asked.

Rarity released a very light laugh before responding.

"Yes. I couldn't help but overhear you talking to yourself. Well, have no fear, Rarity is here darling," she said.

Anasstice raised an eyebrow at the lady pony.

"And you are?" he asked.

Rarity faltered a bit in her pose. She gasped at Anasstice, who rose his hooves in apology.

"Sorry if I offended you," he said.

Rarity sighed and shook her head.

"Oh no, it's quite alright, most new ponies in Ponyville don't know who I am," she said.

With another sigh, she continued.

"I am Rarity, the fashion designer and expert of Ponyville, as well as a part time love guru," she said.

Anasstice stared on at Rarity, an eyebrow raised.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yes, of course dear. I've helped my friends find their love, well, except for Applejack," she said.

At this, she glanced over at Anasstice, a smile on her face. Anasstice took notice of this and took a look at himself.

"You mean me?" he asked.

She nodded her head.

"The thing about Applejack is that she's always focused on her work. Thus, the way into her heart…is through her work," she said.

Anasstice looks up, thinking about what to do.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" he asked.

"Work all day tomorrow and wait until she takes notice?" Rarity asked.

Anasstice shook his head and replied back to her.

"Work all night and when she sees all the hard work I've done, she'll _have_ to agree," he said.

Rarity seemed hesitant to agree. She looked at Anasstice a bit.

"Um…are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive," he asked.

"Well…good luck with that," Rarity said.

"Name's Anasstice, my lady."

Upon saying this, he bowed his head to her. The use of "my lady" caused a lock of her hair to pop out of place.

"Oh, please, you don't have to be formal," she said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, alright. Wait, if you're the fashion designer, why are you out here near the apple farm?" he asked.

"One of my friends, Pinkie Pie, needed some help with a party she's planning, so I ran on over and helped her out," she said.

Anasstice nodded.

"Right, well, see ya Miss Rarity," he said.

With that, he trotted back through the bushes. On the "Miss Rarity", the filly got one eye bigger than the other (O_o) before trotting away.

And so, Anasstice got to work. All through the night, he worked hard to buck down all the apples off the trees on the apple farm.

Quicker than he thought, the sun rose, the rooster cock-a-doodled, and the apple family rose from their sleep. When they trotted out of the house to start the day's normal duties, they noticed that the majority of the apples were gone. They looked to the left and saw a bunch of baskets stacked high, all of them filled with apples.

A pony began to breathe hard and release continuous pants. Anasstice trotted himself over the hill, a wagon seen behind him, connected to his back. When he got up to the Apple family, he fell forward into the dirt, his flank still attached to the wagon.

"Anasstice…you did all of this?" Granny asked.

"Pretty much," Anasstice said.

His eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids were dreary. Macintosh trotted over and got the wagon unattached from Anasstice's back. The helpful pony stood up and stretched his muscles out. Macintosh trotted back over to his family.

"So…Applejack, now that I've done the _entire_ apple farm, what do you think about that?" he asked.

Applejack stared at him a bit. She sighed and gave him her two cents.

"First of all, you did _all_ the work, expecting to get attention. That's not helping, that's just selfish," she said.

Anasstice stared at Applejack a bit with a raised eyebrow. His mouth was also agape.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Second of all, you were hired to help, not to take my duties away," she said.

Anasstice shook his head violently. He looked past Applejack and at her family. They just stood there watching the conversation go down.

"Am I hearing this correctly?" he asked,

They nodded in response at Anasstice's plea. He looked back at Applejack, who continued.

"And third of all…you missed a spot," she said.

With the last one, she had a smile on her face. She pointed her hoof to her right. Anasstice followed her hoof and found the problem. There was still a section of the apple trees yet to be bucked. When seeing this, Anasstice's eyes got wide.

He held his head down and sighed.

"So you're just going to shoot me down?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Applejack asked.

"You heard me, shoot me down," he said.

Applejack looked at Anasstice closely, her _own_ eyebrow raised.

"I'm a helping guy. My cutie mark is somepony helping some other pony up. I help people, that's what I do. I did this for _you_ Applejack," he said.

Still confused, Applejack continued to stare. Anasstice groaned and gave himself a face-hoof.

"I like you, okay?" he shouted it out.

Applejack looked at Anasstice with widened his eyes.

"And you thought taking my work would help?" she asked.

She began to grow angry at the assistant of the farm.

"No, I thought doing my fair share of the work would help! Do you know what it feels like to work all night for something you _reeeeeally_ want done?" Anasstice asked.

"Yyyep," Macintosh said.

"Pretty much," Applejack said.

"Relatively," Applebloom said.

Granny just nodded and made a noise of agreement.

Anasstice just stared at the Apple family a bit. He shook his head violently before turning away.

"I'm out of here," he said.

As he trotted away, the Apple family just stared on. Macintosh, Granny, and Applebloom all looked at Applejack closely. She looked back at them before shrugging.

"I'll be off to work," she said.

All three of her relatives stomped their hooves on her tail. This stopped her mid-trot, causing her front legs to fall out of place. She fell flat on her face, her front hooves sticking out in front of her.

"What?" she asked.

"Apologize to him and get him back," Macintosh ordered.

"No," she said.

Her family just stared at Applejack a bit more.

"He did this for you Applejack, so you wouldn't have to. That's why we hired him, so you wouldn't work as hard as you have," Macintosh said.

Applejack looked over at Anasstice, who was still trotting away. She sighed before getting out of her family's grip. She rushed on over to Anasstice. When she reached him, she trotted out in front of him. She held up her hoof to his face. He stopped moving. When she didn't move her hoof, he moved it for her.

"What?" he asked.

"Okay, so I might've jumped the gun a bit there," she said.

"You think?" he asked.

He raised an eyebrow at her. She just stared at him with squinted eyes. Soon after, she responded back, a smile on her face.

"Thank you Anasstice, for helping me out," she said.

Anasstice took notice of her attempt at an apology. He smiled at her before nodding.

"No problem, it's what I do," he said.

"So…" Applejack began to say.

Anasstice looked at her, eyes closed, smile bright. Applejack smiled back at him.

"I'm not exactly too high-up on this relationship thing, but I'm willing to give it a start," she said.

Anasstice looked at her a bit, before putting her left hoof in his left hoof.

"That's all I ask for," he said.

They continue to stare into each other's eyes a bit. Applejack then realized something.

"Oh man! I forgot about Pinkie's party!" she said.

"Say what?" Anasstice asked.

Applejack let his hoof go and looked around a bit before finding Anasstice's eyes once more.

"Pinkie Pie's party! The surprise one she has for you!" she said.

"Not exactly a surprise anymore. And I don't do parties," he said.

"But you _have_ to come," she said.

Anasstice shook his head, planting his flank on the ground.

"I'm not going, and there's nothing you can do to make me," he said.

Applejack just stared at Anasstice a bit before planting a kiss on his lips. When she let it go, Anasstice eyes were wide. He blankly stared at Applejack for a bit. His eyes then blinked and he regained life.

"Well…that was interesting…but I'm still not going," he said.

Applejack then sent a nearby basket careening into the side of Anasstice's head, breaking it and effectively knocking him out. Applejack sighed, throwing whatever was left of the basket behind her.

"Macintosh, care to help me out here?" she asked.

"Yyyyep," he said.

He trotted over and put the unconscious body of Anasstice on his back.

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**A/N – And there you have it, Applejack's relationship. Now that the set-up for both of my one-shot universes is done, I can begin with actually plot, instead of…well…set-up, I guess.**

**Oh, and I also rushed the ending. For this I apologize. Writing with Applejack is hard!**


End file.
